Jeff’s Translation Service

22 October, 2001 5:00 pm

This was part of a discussion on making the transition from coder to architect. You can see my original response in the previous log entry, but when I saw this list of ways to be the sort of architect everyone hates, I felt compelled to respond in a different way.

I’ll translate a few of these, for those who haven’t learned to read between the lines.

“It’s harder to lie about whether you met a goal when it has numbers attached to it.”

Touch every project you know of that’s related to your work. No need to get heavily involved

“Drive everyone crazy by constantly pestering people for information and/or making useless suggestions based on superficial understanding of the real problems. Come review time, you can claim you helped everyone, and the damage you’ve inflicted on their schedules will make you look good by comparison.”

Write quarterly reports. Trump up any work you’ve done on popular projects, keep work on politically sensitive projects to a few lines.

“Take credit, avoid blame.”

Request at least two weeks of training a year…Request to go to at least two conferences per year

“Spend as much time as possible away from the office so that the people doing real work can’t hunt you down and give you that well-deserved kick in the teeth.”